


Bullet of Decision

by Tallihensia



Category: Smallville
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 11:29:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2268078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a tense situation, Lex puts himself between Clark and danger, and Clark blames himself.  "It'll be just like target shooting."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullet of Decision

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Only mine in my dreams. This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
> 
>  **Warnings:** none
> 
>  **Spoilers:** general
> 
>  **Notes:** Set mid-season two-ish. I've had the bunny around for awhile... it got written because I wanted some Lex wumping. What can I say....? ^^;;;
> 
>  
> 
> Cross-posted to [my fic journal](http://alatrific.livejournal.com/52756.html).

# Bullet of Decision

"Chloe, hurry up!" Clark couldn't see her. He held the rope tight and hoped she was somewhere near the package. 

"I think I see it! Give me another foot." Chloe's voice drifted up over the quarry edge.

Thank goodness. Clark carefully let the rope out another foot, watching it work its way around the pole they were using as a brace. With the pole there, he couldn't feel Chloe's weight on the end, but he knew she was there.

"It'll be just like target shooting," another voice came from the opposite side.

Clark jerked his head around. Jim Trudane stepped out from between the industrial equipment, holding his rifle loosely, a grin on his face. 

"What will it be, boy? Drop the rope and save yourself, or stand there and get shot and drop it anyway. Either way, your nosy partner's a goner." He tossed the rifle from hand to hand.

Could Clark do anything about this? If he wasn't holding the rope, he could have sped over and conked him or dodged out of the way. But holding the rope... Could he tie it off quickly? But he wasn't really sure if he could tie it in such a way it would hold Chloe's weight. 

"Tick, tock..." Jim raised the rifle and aimed it, taking his time. "Better run, boy..."

Clark was resigned to being shot. At least Chloe wouldn't actually _see_ the bullet hit Clark. Though how he could possibly explain that the hunter missed at this short a distance, he didn't know.

"I've got it!"

Clark glanced over and saw the rope wiggling at the edge, as if Chloe was climbing up. Normally, he would have pulled her up, but she obviously had heard Jim and wasn't waiting for him. 

Maybe she'd see it after all. Clark grimaced. He was so screwed. But he just didn't see that he could do anything possible other than stand and hold the rope. Well, maybe Chloe knowing wouldn't be so bad.

"Not running? Five, four, three..."

Clark planted his feet and raised his chin, staring straight at Jim. He'd seen a lot of bad things in the world, and still, he was disappointed when people chose evil. To stand there and deliberately take somebody's life... two people's lives. The evidence that Chloe was getting would prove that he'd killed even more, so two more probably didn't count in Jim's world. It was still disappointing. People had a choice, and they didn't have to chose this one.

"... two, one." 

And just as Jim spoke 'one', Lex burst out running from somewhere close to Clark. He wasn't running for Clark, though, he was running for Jim, angling himself between them.

Clark's mouth dropped open – he'd had no clue that Lex was anywhere near. Though Chloe _had_ talked to him earlier in the day when she was trying to figure out where the package was. Knowing Lex, he probably figured it out too. But his timing...

"Lex!" Clark yelled, even as the rifle went off.

Lex stumbled and fell. 

_Lex!_ Clark's scream this time was only in his own mind as he stood there, completely frozen, unable to move. Like Lex wasn't moving. Only this was different, so different. Lex shouldn't be there. Shouldn't have been between Clark and the bullet, shouldn't be there on the ground now.

"Clark!"

Clark jerked his head around and saw Chloe trying to climb up from the cliff. He knelt down and pulled her up and over, not trying to hide his strength.

The rifle went off again, and Clark rolled him and Chloe across the ground, hoping it would miss, or would hit him. 

Rifles were two-barreled. They heard Jim curse. 

Clark got up and ran. Probably too fast, but at this point he didn't really care. He punched Jim, furious that he had to be careful of his strength while this murderer had shot his friend. Then he tied him with a bit of the rope they'd cut earlier from the main length.

Turning from Jim, Clark went back with a sinking heart.

Chloe was kneeling next to Lex, her cell phone in hand talking to 911. 

Lex had ended up on his side, body curled in around himself, hands to his wound. He was limp now, hands fallen away, eyes closed, blood pooling around him. There was none of the spark and animation that he had when he was conscious. He was, though, breathing shallowly, and Clark felt a spur of hope. Not too late. Not too late yet. 

The rifle shot hadn't hit Lex straight on. Thank goodness. But it had done enough damage with the angle across his chest and side.

Clark stripped off both his shirts, using the t-shirt to hold up against Lex's wounds. He figured it was the cleanest cloth since it had been protected by his over shirt. It was getting soaked quickly, the hope bleeding through.

"The ambulance is coming," Chloe gasped out. "Police too. What was he doing here?"

Clark glanced at the very dirty package on the ground next to Chloe that they'd sacrificed more than they'd known to get. It didn't seem worth it now. "How soon will the ambulance get here?"

Chloe grimaced. "I hate to move him, but we could take my car. That would be faster."

The quarry was on the outskirts of town, the industry kept away from the living areas. 

Too long. It would be too long. Clark ripped his outer shirt into strips and tied the t-shirt in a bandage. Then he knelt and gathered Lex up into his arms, standing carefully. He made sure to pick Lex up in such a way that his head was tucked against his chest and not dangling off his arm. 

"That will take too long too." Clark looked at Chloe and gave a nervous smile. "Meet you there." Then he ran.

... ... ...

Clark didn't see Lex again for a week after that. He tried. Oh, he tried. But Lex's father had swept in while Lex was still in surgery and Clark in the waiting room, and before Clark knew it, after surgery, a helicopter had come and taken Lex away. Out to Metropolis and a "real" hospital, and one with security so tight that Clark couldn't get near and Lex's father wasn't letting him on the approved list. 

"It was a mistake to send Lex here," Lionel had said tightly. "He's been nearly killed half a dozen times already, and now this! I can promise you, he's never coming back."

Chloe had tried to argue about Lex's heroism, but Lionel had come back with saying it should have gone to the police, not their amateur sleuthing, and the fight had gotten loud before Lionel remembered it was against his pride to yell at a teenager and he had stomped off.

Clark desperately needed to see Lex. His last memory was of his friend, unconscious and bleeding in his arms, looking so very pale. His friend, running between him and a gun. His friend, rescuing him... when he didn't need the rescue. 

It was Clark's fault that Lex was hurt. His fault entirely. Lex had asked Clark over and over again but Clark hadn’t trusted him. He hadn't trusted him, had been scared of what might happen if he told, and Lex got shot for it. Could have been killed. Because Clark hadn't told him. 

A bullet that wouldn't have hurt him at all, that almost killed his friend.

Lex, running between them, to protect Clark.

It should have been the other way around. But Lex hadn't known.

Chloe had been completely cool with it. Wanted to know details and made Clark do things so she could clock him, or try to, but more than anything just loved actually _knowing_. Well, at least knowing the parts she knew. Clark hadn't told her about the alien thing. The speed and the strength, and he was being edgy about the rest. He didn't think he'd be able to keep the x-ray under wraps for too much longer. Chloe was persistent. But she totally loved it that he had the powers and had trusted her. Clark wondered if he should tell Pete. But he didn't know how Pete would react. Chloe was one person, Pete was another.

Then there was Lex. Maybe Lex would have been like Chloe too. But Clark had never given him the chance. 

His parents were no help whatsoever. They kept saying things like maybe it was for the best that Lex was in Metropolis and while they were sympathetic about Clark being worried, they were firm that Clark was right not to have told Lex originally.

Clark hadn't told Chloe about the invulnerable part either yet, so he couldn't tell her about that part of his guilt on what happened to Lex. Instead, he spent a lot of time in the loft. 

There was a knock at the bottom of the steps.

"Come on up," Clark called without bothering to look and see who it was. He stayed on the couch, looking glumly out the window.

Turned out to be Chloe. "Hey Clark."

He dredged up a smile for her. It probably wasn't a very successful smile, but it was enough for her to smile back.

"I've got something for you."

Clark couldn't dredge up a lot of enthusiasm, though he did try. "Oh hey, you shouldn't have. What is it?"

Chloe handed him a slip of paper, which he unfolded.

"631?" He looked over at her, puzzled.

"That's the room Lex is in at St. Joseph's."

Clark looked up sharply, his attention focused and intent. "For real?"

Chloe nodded. "You wouldn't believe what I went through to get it, but it's real. He's not scheduled to be released for at least another week. Normally would be longer, but apparently Lionel is arranging for home care. The hospital refuses to let him out any sooner, even though he's pressing them."

It was true, Chloe really _was_ a miracle worker.

"Tell him I said hi, and thank him for me too." Chloe gave Clark a wink, then handed him an envelope and left.

The envelope had copies of the floor plan of the hospital, with surveillance marked, and a list of security shifts.

Clark chased her to the top of the stairs and yelled his thanks down to her.

With a wave, Chloe kept going until she was out of the barn.

... ... ...

Lex didn't look a lot better. Sure, he wasn't bleeding all over the place, but he was pale and skinny and his sleep didn't look very comfortable. There were tubes in his arms and bags on IVs, and monitors hooked up. 

In the hospital bed, Lex looked small, young, and very, very alone.

Clark hovered at his side, caught between being happy to finally see his friend, and being worried about him still. At least he was alive. Clark kept reassuring himself of that, over and over again.

On the bed, Lex's head turned from side to side, a low sound of pain coming from between his lips that he'd never make while awake.

Instinctively, Clark reached out and touched Lex's forehead, gently smoothing in a reassuring stroke.

Lex stilled, the restlessness passing. Then his eyes opened, blueness that was a little more grey in that light, dulled from sleep and pain. He blinked a few times, gaze sharpening even as Clark watched.

"Clark!" Lex started to sit up, then lay back again with a wince. "You're okay! You are, aren't you?"

Clark couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. "I think that's my line, Lex. I wasn't the one who got shot."

With the arm that had the least needles in it, Lex reached out for Clark's hand and held on. Lex breathed a little sigh with the grasp. "I wasn't sure. I didn't know anything that happened after... after the first bullet, and though Dad told me you were okay, you didn't come to visit. I couldn't imagine... I was afraid, when you didn't come. He tried to tell me you didn't care, but I couldn't... I just... I was afraid."

Afraid that Lionel's poison was truth, most likely. Clark tightened his grip as much as he dared. "That wasn't it. Wasn't it at all. I've been trying. But I wasn't being let in."

Lex's eyes devoured him, searching for the truth, and then his lids dropped over those expressive orbs, cutting the connection. "Yeah." Lex's one word was flat and didn't convey anything at all. 

Clark wasn't sure what that meant. "Lex. Lex, god, I'm so sorry. That should have been me. You shouldn't have done that. I don't know what I would have done if you'd died. Well, not to make it about me, but... when I saw you running out there. My fault. All my fault, and you shouldn't have done it."

Lex blinked his eyes back open, a slight grin starting to play at his lips. "You do it for me often enough. I wasn't about to let it be you. God, Clark, you couldn't _move_... you weren't going to. I knew that well enough."

"But I wouldn't have been hurt," Clark whispered softly, letting his secret out with the breath, his heart with it, and his greatest guilt. "If I'd told you... If I'd trusted you, all those times you've asked! If you'd known, you wouldn't have been shot."

Lex froze, his whole body still, his lips parted, his grip on Clark's hand at a level that would have been painful to a normal human, his breaths shallow, his gaze locked.

Clark couldn't breathe. But he tried again, painfully. "I can't be hurt." Funny, it didn't seem like relief to be able to say it. It seemed more like panic, and fear, and danger. If Lex wasn't holding his hand, Clark thought he might run. Or throw up. Throwing up seemed likely. He swallowed, fear clogging his throat.

With a grunt, Lex let go of Clark's hand. Closing his eyes, he brought his newly freed hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Clark..." He trailed off.

"I'm sorry," Clark said, helplessly. "I'm so sorry, Lex. I should have told you. I can't be hurt. You were... you could have been _killed_ because I didn't tell you." To his horror, he felt moistness gathering in his eyes and he didn't know if it was for Lex or for him. He didn't know what would happen.

"Stop that," Lex said, without opening his eyes. 

Clark gulped and dashed his hand over his own, the flannel absorbing the moisture.

With a sigh, Lex lowered his hand, and fumbled for the bed controls. "Could you help me sit up?"

Given a task, Clark eagerly complied, finding the right controls and then also helping to prop pillows until Lex told him it was enough. He also fetched Lex a glass of water with a straw. "You're allowed water, right?"

Lex glanced sourly at the IV bags next to the bed, "Yes, I'm allowed water. Even if I'm not allowed to piss on my own yet."

Clark gulped with the additional reminder of how bad it had been.

Lex sighed. "Clark, I already knew that most of the time, you've got some sort of special ability... I've got my car, I've got the bullets, I've got... I've got a lot of things."

Clark paled and backed a little away. But if Lex had all that... "But then why did you do it?"

The grin Lex gave looked more sad than anything. "Because you _can_ be hurt."

Baffled, Clark shook his head, then shook it again.

Lex held out his hand again to Clark. It took what seemed like a really long time for Clark to gather up his courage and come back again to Lex's side. But Lex lay there patiently, waiting for him.

"Clark," Lex started, looking at their joined hands and stroking Clark's skin with his thumb, "after you survived the bridge and me, no matter what I thought about that, I then found you in a corn field, tied up on a crucifix, sweating and pale and about to puke. You were in the _hospital_ after getting beat up by that classmate of yours – and that after you offered to let me hit you with a hammer to prove you could get hurt. Not to mention a dozen other times I've found you hurt or sick or weak or passed out in the middle of the road. Yes, you recover quickly – much more quickly than I do, and Toby has wondered about me more than once. And yes, I've got a lot of both my own and circumstantial evidence to show that there are times you can't be hurt... but not always. Not always, not consistently, and it's a mystery to me as to what difference there is between when you can be, and when you can't. 

"At first I thought it was you, then I thought it was something else. Maybe something like the ink those robbers used to get through my walls, or the paste Jeff made for his invisibility. But you seem to have an allergy to the meteors and they're the base of those other things. So I don't know."

In their clasped hands, Lex's hand twitched, as if he'd started to make a move and then aborted it with the grasp. Clark almost let go anyhow, but held on all the same. He was slightly stunned by Lex's commentary, and still frightened. Lex knew a lot. An amazing lot and Lex was smart, and he'd been trying to figure it out this whole time. Well, Clark knew he had been. Lex was always coming to him and _asking_ him. But it was scary, to know how much Lex knew.

"I can't tell by looking," Lex said softly, continuing with his talk and not diverting for Clark's internal thoughts. "I look at you... and I don't know. I don't know if this is one of the moments where I could run my car into you or shoot you with a gun, or if it's one of the times that you're as vulnerable and hurtable as the rest of us. Without knowing... how could I take the risk? You say I shouldn't have... but what if it had been one of those times when you didn't have your invisible shield, for whatever reason, and I stood there and watched and did nothing, and you'd been killed? Yeah, that would have worked out well."

With that sort of logic, Clark had to admit Lex had a point. _He_ knew he was invulnerable at the moment... but there was no big diamond symbol on his chest that said so. Still and all, though, "You didn't have to get _yourself_ shot instead!"

Lex's mouth twisted in another parody of a grin. "There wasn't time for anything else and..." he hesitated. "I'd stopped carrying a gun after Roger. Now I wish I hadn't. Well, mostly wish. But..." he shook his head. "There wasn't time," he repeated. 

"And Clark," Lex's gaze focused into a really scary intense focus. He'd been looking at Clark, but not like this. "You really have to get over this idea that I'm a hero. I'm not."

Clark's mouth dropped open. "You just got _shot_ because you ran between me and a murderer! How the heck is that not heroic?"

Lex rolled his eyes. "Okay, bad choice of words. God, then. I'm not a fucking god."

As serious as they'd been, Clark had to laugh. "I really don't think that, Lex."

"No?" Lex asked softly. "The way you look at me, with bright eyes and that smile of yours that lights up the room. The way you _believe_ in me, without even knowing me. You're always defending me to your parents, and your classmates... and shouldn't they know? Hasn't my family given you enough evidence to not _believe_ like that?" Lex closed his eyes and leaned back on the pillow. "I love it when you believe in me, when you defend me, when you come to me and think I'm just as good as you are... but I'm not. I never have been, no matter what you think."

This sort of rant was a little more familiar to Clark. "Stop that, Lex," he said firmly. "You're not your father, you're not responsible for what he did. You're the one who saved the plant, you're the one who cares. You're my friend."

"I'm your friend because I wanted to know more about you!" Lex said hotly, yanking his hand from Clark's and edging back on his bed. "You're right not to trust me, because I've _never_ trusted you! Don't take all my words at face value."

One of the needles in his arm tore out and blood started flowing down as the machine beeped.

"Lex," Clark sighed, seeing the seeds of self-destruction that he regularly had to calm down. Any moment now, Lex would start in on his Luthor heritage.

The nurse came in first. "Lex, you _have_ to stay---" she broke off as she saw Clark in there. "You shouldn't be here." She edged over to an alarm button.

Lex narrowed his eyes. "Yes, he should be. This is my best friend, Clark Kent, and I myself put him on my medical records as an authorized visitor last year. Nothing has changed. I invited him here, and I'm glad he's here." He turned smooth, "I'm sorry that I tore my IV again... I rolled over again. I know I'm a trial to you." The sparkling, flirty smile turned on full force.

The nurse stopped reaching for the alarm. "You're a horrible patient, Mr. Lex." She shook her head and went to his side, stripping out the damaged needle and tubing and taping a gauze pad over the wound. Then she got a new set out. "Your father said no visitors, and he's your nearest relative with the medical rights. I'm going to have to tell the doctor about this."

Lex tried hard to keep his charming face on, but Clark could see that he was upset. "My father might have made the decisions while I was unconscious, but I'm over the age of consent and awake – it's my right now."

"You might be, but is he?" The nurse asked archly. "I can't do anything about that. You'll have to talk to the doctor."

"I will," Lex promised grimly. He tried to rally and give her a smile, but it was weak. 

With a shake of her head and a pat on his arm, the nurse left.

Lex sighed. "The doctor will be in shortly. All these medications have me in no shape to negotiate. My idiosyncratic reactions are throwing things off again, and it hurts, and they give me the pain medication for it, but it wears off too soon and then they try something else... I'm not at my best right now."

That explained Lex's little rant. Clark had been wondering. Lex was usually more subtle about it.

With a shake of his head, Lex looked at Clark. "I think you better go. I don't want security to escort you out. They're going to have questions anyhow about how you got in." He looked around the room. "I'm not at Metropolis General, am I?"

"St. Joseph's," Clark confirmed. "Sixth floor."

"My dad really didn't want anybody to visit me, did he?" Lex sighed. "I'll straighten it out. Now that I know, I can do something about it."

"Concentrate on getting better, Lex." Now that he had seen his friend, and talked to him, Clark was feeling much better himself. His last image of Lex wasn't of him shot and unconscious anymore. Instead, he had the memory of their hands clasped together.

"Clark..." Lex hesitated. He glanced at the door. "Look, Clark. I don't tell you everything. Your ways around things... aren't as good as you think they are."

Clark felt his eyes widen and the return of his panic. "Lex..."

Lex bit his lips. "There were blurs on the museum security footage. And some other things. We don't have time right now. I'll... I'll show you everything when I get out of here."

"Your dad said you weren't coming back," Clark whispered. 

With a snort, Lex dismissed that. "I'd like to see him try," he said darkly. "Clark, _go_. I promise, I'll get in touch." He grinned. "With the real visiting hours too."

Clark x-rayed through the door. A man in doctor clothes and three burly security guards were almost there. "Um, maybe I'll use the window..." Lex's side of the hospital overlooked the parking garage. It wasn't as far down or as exposed as the street-side. Lex's room also had a nice balcony that would be useful. The advantages of rich people in private hospitals.

Lex shot him a look that was both exasperated and intrigued at the same time. "Just... just don't get caught."

Clark wanted to stay. He wanted to stay and talk to Lex and find out what Lex had been talking about, and to just _be_ with Lex... but now really wasn't the time. He stored up a good long look at Lex, then left.

Later. They would talk later, and both of them would be more honest with each other, and Clark may not tell Lex everything, but he'd tell him he couldn't tell everything, and Lex would show Clark the things that Lex thought made him untrustworthy, and they would work it out. 

Lex had taken a bullet for Clark. Not because Clark hadn't told him he was invulnerable, but because Lex knew it and had still cared enough for Clark not to take the chance. 

Clark would take that back, and learn from it, and he'd learn from Chloe, and things may not be perfect, but Clark thought they had a good chance to be better now. They would hold hands again, and things would be better.

* * *

* * *

END


End file.
